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2 SamuelChapitre 14

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Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart went out to Absalom.
So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought back a wise woman from there, and he said to her, "Pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning clothes and use no oil, and act like a woman who has grieved many days for the dead.
Then go to the king and speak to him in this way." And Joab put the words in her mouth.
The woman from Tekoa came to the king, fell on her face to the ground in homage, and said, "Help me, O king!" [Footnote: The Hebrew text reads "said" here; the reading "came" follows the sense required by the context and is supported by ancient versions.]
The king said to her, "What is your trouble?" She answered, "Truly, I am a widow; my husband is dead.
Your servant had two sons. They quarreled out in the field, and there was no one to part them. One struck the other and killed him.
Now the whole clan has risen against your servant. They say, 'Hand over the one who struck his brother, so we may put him to death for the life of the brother he murdered, and destroy the heir as well.' So they would snuff out the last ember I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor survivor on the face of the earth."
The king said to the woman, "Go home. I will issue orders on your behalf."
But the woman from Tekoa said to the king, "My lord the king, let the guilt be on me and on my father's house; the king and his throne are innocent."
The king replied, "If anyone says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will never trouble you again."
She said, "Then let the king swear by the LORD your God to keep the avenger of blood from doing any more destruction, so they will not destroy my son." He said, "As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son's head shall fall to the ground."
Then the woman said, "Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king." "Speak," he said.
The woman said, "Then why have you devised such a thing against the people of God? In saying this, the king convicts himself, for he has not brought back his own banished son.
We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life; instead he devises ways so that the banished one is not cast off from him.
Now I have come to speak this word to my lord the king because the people made me afraid. Your servant thought, 'Let me speak to the king; perhaps he will do what his servant asks.
Surely the king will listen and rescue his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy both me and my son from the inheritance of God.'
And your servant thought, 'May the word of my lord the king bring me peace,' for my lord the king is like the angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the LORD your God be with you."
Then the king said to the woman, "Do not hide from me what I am about to ask you." "Let my lord the king speak," the woman said.
The king asked, "Is not the hand of Joab in all of this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or the left from anything my lord the king has said. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me; he put all these words in the mouth of your servant.
Your servant Joab did this to change the course of things. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the angel of God—he knows everything that happens in the land."
The king said to Joab, "Very well, I grant it. Go, bring back the young man Absalom."
Joab fell with his face to the ground in homage and blessed the king. "Today," Joab said, "your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant's request."
Then Joab set out for Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
But the king said, "He must go to his own house; he is not to see my face." So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the king's face.
In all Israel there was no man so highly praised for his beauty as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no flaw in him.
Whenever he cut the hair of his head—he cut it once a year, when it grew too heavy for him—he would weigh it, and it came to two hundred shekels by the royal weight.
Three sons were born to Absalom, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar; she was a beautiful woman.
Absalom lived in Jerusalem two full years without seeing the king's face.
Then Absalom sent word to Joab, asking him to go to the king on his behalf, but Joab would not come to him. He sent a second time, and still Joab would not come.
So Absalom said to his servants, "Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." And Absalom's servants set the field on fire.
Then Joab got up and came to Absalom's house and said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?"
Absalom answered Joab, "Look, I sent word to you and said, 'Come here, so I can send you to the king to ask why I have come home from Geshur. It would be better for me if I were still there.' Now let me see the king's face, and if there is guilt in me, let him put me to death."
So Joab went to the king and told him. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed with his face to the ground before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.
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